1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of drug-injecting devices. More specifically the present invention comprises a drug-injecting device having a traveling hypodermic or intramuscular needle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Infections diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis have led to a growing concern over the safety of drug-injecting devices. Because conventional drug-injecting devices utilize an exposed needle, handling conventional drug-injecting devices carries a risk of accidental disease exposure. For example, it is not uncommon for a person to accidentally prick themselves with the exposed needle while handling the drug-injecting device.
Several inventors have proposed improved injecting devices which would mitigate the risk of accidental disease exposure if the proposed injecting devices were actually used. The designs for these proposed improved injecting devices have been overly complex, making the injecting device expensive to manufacture and/or difficult to use. In addition, prior art syringes are not designed to address the potential risk involved with handling the syringe prior to injection. Instead, prior art “safety syringe” focus on reducing exposure to a contaminated needle after the inoculation has been performed. Accordingly, safety syringes have yet to enjoy widespread acceptance. Thus, there remains a need for an improved drug-injecting device which mitigates the risk of disease exposure while being simple to manufacture and use.